You thought they’d let it go?
You may not have had cause to look at the official US government covid website, covid.gov, in a while.
Take a quick look now. Changed a bit, hasn’t it?
If you don’t remember its previous look, thanks to the Internet Archive’s Wayback Machine you can choose any random date during the Biden administration and find a governmenty-looking website with helpful advice on testing, masking and vaccination.
Now it’s more like covid.gov brought to you by Oliver Stone.
As Donald Trump walks towards the camera on a navy-blue background past the words “LAB LEAK: the true origins of covid-19”, cue old-school deep-throated voiceover: In a world torn apart by a Chinese virus, where evil medical advisers lock people in their homes, only one man can restore sanity …
That’s right, the old chestnut about covid’s origins – which was hard to resolve to anyone’s complete satisfaction, thanks to obfuscation and delays by the Chinese government – is back in a big way.
The CIA in January, under its newly Trump-appointed director John Ratcliffe, reported that the coronavirus was “more likely” to have leaked from a lab than to have come from animals, though this was qualified with a “low confidence” label.
This followed the report from the Republican-led House of Representatives Committee in December, which came – surprise! – to the same conclusion, and from which the rest of the site’s content is sourced.
After the dramatic opening titles there follows a list of “facts” and accusations to get any wild-eyed conspiracy theorist’s heart pumping, including “The virus possesses a biological characteristic that is not found in nature.” Their emphasis, no elucidation.
“By nearly all measures of science, if there was evidence of a natural origin it would have already surfaced. But it hasn’t.”
By nearly all measures of science, I’m telling you!
It goes without saying that there’s plenty of evidence for the market origin and that nothing is evidence if you don’t want it to be.
The site continues to hound Professor Anthony Fauci, the former chief medical adviser and director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, who became the lightning rod for pandemic resentment and has faced death threats ever since leading the US’s covid response.
Just the other day a “watchdog” revealed to Sky News Australia and other right-wing media that Fauci’s personal wealth doubled during covid lockdowns.
Fauci was pre-emptively pardoned by Joe Biden, who rightly foresaw no end to his persecution, but had his personal security vindictively revoked by Trump when he returned to the presidency, in a nod and wink to any lunatic still nursing a covid-related grievance.
It may be just a drop in the ocean of vile behaviour by this administration and its fans, but if anyone deserves some post-pandemic peace, it’s Fauci. The covid.gov glowup suggests he won’t be getting any.
Send story tips not found in nature to penny@medicalrepublic.com.au.
